Settling In/ASL is everywhere!

I arrived on South Caicos yesterday after a long wait in the tiny airport. The plane getting here was a really small one that seats about twenty or so, and has the tiniest cabin I've ever seen. I had to bend almost halfway over before I could even get down the aisle! The little girls that were on the flight thought it was the coolest plane ever, since it seemed just their size! One of the interns picked me up at the local airport, and took me and my bags over to the field station. The station is situated on a cliff, and has a beautiful view of the sunrises and sunsets. Our rooms can hold four, and each has their own bathroom with a sink, shower and toilet. Because fresh water is such a precious commodity on this desert island though, we are limited to freshwater showers once a week. Last night I had my first experience bathing in the ocean during high tide (which was awesome, although a tad salty) and attempting to wash my hair while staying in one place. Below is a picture of the rooms where we're staying, with various pieces of wash hanging on the line. There are no laundry facilities here, so everything must be washed by hand in salt water. Makes me feel like a pirate :-)

I wandered around some other parts of the field station, and inspected our salt water pool (of course!)

Afterwards, we had dinner, and then we went exploring near an old abandoned house on another part of the island. We had some fun rock climbing and navigating clumps of grass there, and then we headed into the "town" towards some of the bars and clubs.

I got to meet Cynthia, this wonderful lady who likes SFS students and feeds us a lot. I also got to help Cynthia make fried conch and try some of it. Rather tasty, in my opinion. I also ran into a guy at Cynthia's named Melvin, who happens to be deaf. We were both so excited to find somebody else that knows sign that I talked to him for probably a good twenty minutes. He knew what RIT was and wanted to know how I wound up learning sign, since I'm hearing. I explained how I was an RA last fall and we agreed to meet later again while I'm here. I can't imagine a whole lot of people on the island know sign, so that was very exciting for the both of us! After talking with Melvin, I was exhausted and decided to head back to the station for an early bedtime. When I got up the next morning, I took some pictures in the early morning sun, and then we had class this morning.

This picture is from one of the benches right outside the station, at about 6:45 in the morning. Later I have to make up a swim test I missed on the first day, and then we have free time until dinner.